ANTONIO MARIA BONONCINI (1677-1726) ANTONIO VIVALDI (1678-1741) Sonata a Violoncello Solo in G major* Sonata for Violoncello and Basso continuo, 1 Largo 2:04 RV 44 in a minor 2 Allegro 1:45 19 Largo 2:58 3 Adagio 1:26 20 Allegro poco 2:37 4 Sarabanda 1:47 21 Largo 3:08 22 Allegro 2:24 Sinfonia per camera in c minor* 5 Cantabile 4:13 FRANCESCO PAOLO SUPRIANO (SCIPRIANI) 6 Spiritoso 2:11 (1678-1753) 7 Affetuoso 1:22 Sinfonia di Violoncello a Solo in C major* 23 Amoroso 1:49 ANTONIO CALDARA (1670-1736) 24 Allegro assai 1:26 Sinfonia à Violoncello Solo in D major 25 Larghetto 1:26 8 Adagio 2:41 26 Presto 1:12 9 Allegro 2:21 10 Grave 1:41 FRANCESCO ALBOREA (FRANCISCELLO) 11 Presto 1:21 (1691-1739) Sonata a Violoncello e Basso in D major* Sonata for Violoncello and Basso continuo, 27 Amoroso 2:33 no. 4 in d minor 28 Allegro 2:17 12 Allegro 2:24 29 Menuet 2:08 13 Largo 4:12 14 Allegro assai 3:36 Sonata a Violoncello e Basso in G major* 30 Adagio 1:52 NICOLA PORPORA (1686-1768) 31 Allegro 4:01 Sonata for Violoncello and Basso continuo 32 Adagio 1:00 in F major 33 Menuetto 2:10 15 Larghetto 1:24 16 Allegro 1:56 17 Adagio 1:48 * World première recordings 18 Allegro non presto 2:33 Total time 74:27 MICHAL STAHEL Baroque violoncello We thank the Esterházy Privatstiftung in Eisenstadt, Austria, Antony Posch, 1728 (Esterházy Privatstiftung), for the loan of its violoncello, their support and for the use of restored in the luthier studio of Gerlinde Reutterer in the space at the Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt for recording Vienna 2007-2009 purposes.

MARTIN GEDEON Positive organ (Esterháza Centre of Culture, Research and Festival) JAN ČIŽMÁŘ Theorbo, Baroque Lute, Baroque guitar SOMA DINYÉS Harpsichord

Sound: © Rostislav Pavlík, 2014 We thank the Esterháza Centre of Culture, Research and Text: © Michal Stahel, 2014 Festival in Fertöd, Hungary, for the loan of their positive English translation: © Christopher Roth, 2014 organ. Photos: © Kata Sedlak, 2014 Design, retouch: © Monika Boďová, 2014

Recorded from 4 to 8 August 2014 in the chapel of the Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt, Austria.

To download the complete booklet in English, German and Slovak please visit www.pavlikrecords.sk/shop/michal- stahel-baroque-cello-sonatas-cd-audio

9 10 Vienna 1728 the Habsburgs hired well-known composers and musicians from all over Europe, musical life at the imperial court came to equal that of other centers such as Paris and London as The Habsburgs, as rulers of large swaths of Europe early as the reign of Maximilian I. But with the coronation of stretching from today’s Portugal and Spain to Flanders, parts Ferdinand II in 1619, Italian musicians—and the baroque of Germany, Bohemia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, and on to style they brought with them—came quite clearly to the fore. Croatia and regions of Italy including Sicily and Sardinia, Ferdinand’s marriage to Eleonora Gonzaga, whose family viewed themselves as the bearers and patrons, and in fact as had been important patrons and supporters of Claudio the epicenter, of European art and culture. They employed Monteverdi, provided a firm foundation for the relationship music as a tool with which to represent the imperial court’s between Vienna and Italian music. In terms of musical life at power and glory. While the French court, traditionally the Viennese court during the first half of the 18th century, viewed as a rival, concentrated more on architecture, the one must above all mention the Graz-native Johann Joseph Habsburgs supported music consistently and early on. Fux (1660–1741), who arrived in Vienna at the end of the 17th Ferdinand I and Ferdinand II were the rulers who ultimately century and was quickly appointed Hoff-Compositeur [court settled on Vienna as their imperial capital and residence. composer] and, in 1715, Hofkapellmeister. Further And as the nobility gravitated towards the court, the imperial important composers employed during the 18th century’s administrative apparatus grew—as did the need for theaters first half by the imperial court music establishment (the and for the performance of concerts and operas. This went Hofkapelle) included Attilio Ariosti, Carlo Agostino Badia, hand-in-hand with Vienna’s dynamic economic and cultural Giuseppe Bonno, Giovanni Bononcini, Antonio Caldara, development, and the city was to act as a magnet for artists Francesco Bartolomeo Conti, Giuseppe Porsile, Luca and intellectuals from all over Europe until well into the 18th Antonio Predieri, and Marc’Antonio Ziani, who was Fux’s century. Several Habsburg Holy Roman Emperors were direct predecessor as Hofkapellmeister. themselves passionate composers and musical performers: Ferdinand III., emperor from 1637 to 1657, was himself a Under Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor from 1705 to 1711, as composer, but little of his output has been preserved. His under his predecessors, there existed a veritable cultural successor, Leopold I, had an opera house built—of wood— „arms race“ between Vienna and Paris. And the reign of and composed both arias and entire operas. And Maria Charles VI, his successor, saw the imperial Hofkapelle grow Theresia appeared at court as a singer, while Joseph II was to number 300 musicians, its greatest size ever—with an active chamber musician and an enthusiastic opera lover. music’s role as a vehicle of power growing commensurately. It was under Charles’s rule and the conditions associated Music stood at the center of imperial representation, the therewith that the cello used on the present recording first general understanding of culture, and courtly life. And since saw the light of day. In response to an order by the princely 9 10 Esterházy family, Antony Posch (1677–1742), the Hoff- manifold musical life, of which they adopted numerous Lautenmacher [court luthier], built this instrument at his elements. Having begun with sacred music, the Esterházys’ Vienna workshop in 1728 for use at the Esterházys’ court in patronage expanded during the second half of the 18th Eisenstadt. Together with Johann Georg Thir (ca. 1710– century to include instrumental music and opera, and their 1781), Johann Joseph Stadlmann (1720–1781), and their appointment of as vice- in 1761 workshops, Posch was part of that world-famous generation eventually garnered them worldwide fame as cultural of string instrument makers who had migrated from Bavaria patrons. Prior to the presence of Joseph Franz Weigl (1740– to Vienna and proceeded to produce instruments of 1820) and Antonín Kraft (1752–1820), the two first cellists of superlative quality. And this cello and other examples owned the Esterházy orchestra under the leadership of Joseph by the Esterházy Foundation serve us as indications that Haydn (who wrote his two cello concertos for them), and such instruments were not played exclusively by the before Franz Liszt’s father Adam List (1776–1827), who was musicians of the Viennese court. Even just the fact that the employed there as second cellist under Kapellmeister Esterházys had their instruments produced in Vienna Johann Nepomuk Hummel, I am not aware of any chamber implies that they were dependent upon the nearby city and music repertoire that would suggest the presence of a strong profited greatly from its rich artistic and cultural offerings. cello-playing personality at the Esterházy court during the first half of the 18th century. This previously protestant Esterházys’ conversion to Catholicism and their unconditional loyalty to the rulers of The development of the cello from a bass instrument to be the Holy Roman Empire, who were simultaneously Kings of played as part of basso continuo group into a solo Hungary, laid the cornerstone for the family’s meteoric instrument began around the end of the 17th century within ascent. Its members proved their loyalty to the imperial the circles of two cellists employed at Bologna’s San house particularly in armed conflicts, from the Petronio Basilica: Domenico Gabrielli (1651–1690) and his confrontations with the Ottoman Turks to the 30 Years’ student Giuseppe Maria Jacchini (1667–1727). The invention War (1618–1648) and the Napoleonic Wars (1792–1815). of metal-wound gut bass strings around this time made it Prince Paul II. Anton Esterházy de Galantha (1711–1762), possible for the cello to be played as the equal of other solo who was just 17 years old when this cello was built, studied in instruments such as the viola da gamba and the violin. The Vienna and exhibited a strong interest in culture. And in perfection of these two cellists’ advanced playing keeping with Esterházy tradition, he lent his support to techniques, resulting in the ability to play more exposed solo Habsburg ruler Maria Theresia in the War of the Austrian parts, was to take place a bit later on in . The Succession beginning in 1741. Because of the family’s loyalty protagonists of the strong generation of cellists to emerge to and close relationship with the Viennese court, it stands from that city during the early 18th century included to reason that they were quite familiar with Vienna’s Francesco Alborea, Francesco Supriano, Giovanni Perroni, 11 12 and Salvatore Lanzetti, of whom the first three—along with Antonio Maria Bononcini—continued to develop their cello- playing careers as musicians of the Viennese court. Their proficiency as players must have far exceeded that of the Austrian cellists employed there, for above all after 1727—the year when the exceptional Italian cellists Giovanni Perroni and Francesco Alborea were hired—the cello came to feature as an obbligato instrument in numerous highly virtuosic passages. The tradition of having challenging, highly figurative bass-clef parts played by a cello, which came to be characteristic of the Viennese court, developed quite rapidly during this period thanks to resident composers such as Giovanni and Antonio Bononcini, Attilio Ariosti, and Antonio Caldara, who were also cellists. For this reason, the most brilliant cello writing from Vienna is to be found in operas and oratorios—in contrast to the Italian baroque repertoire, where numerous solo concertos and sonatas were dedicated to the instrument. My research in various European collections and archives has, however, yielded a few previously unknown pieces of solo cello literature from these circles, for which reason I have the privilege of presenting you with world première recordings of five works on this CD.

Though it must remain a matter of conjecture, it is tempting indeed to imagine that some of this repertoire might possibly have been played on the Posch cello heard on this recording, at a time when it was still new and these composers were still alive…

13 14 17 18 The cellist and composer Antonio Maria Bononcini (1677– for cello, and that it was from them that they had learned of 1726) was born in Modena as the younger sibling of his more the new, modern playing techniques. These 12 sonatas by famous brother Giovanni (1670–1747). Together with his Bononcini, however, are quite distinct—both stylistically and brother, Antonio studied in Bologna under Giovanni Paolo in terms of cello-specific playing technique—from the Colonna. Unfortunately, little is known about his life or sonatas by him that were chosen for this recording. In fact, about the period that he spent in Vienna. Between 1690 and the unique way in which he wrote the earlier set suggests a 1693, both brothers belonged to the orchestra of the papal technique associated more with the „violoncello da spalla“, legate Cardinal Pamphili in Bologna. And in 1694, Antonio which was held at the shoulder. followed his older brother to , where he lived until 1700. In 1702, he went with his brother to Berlin and Antonio Bononcini’s Sonata a Violoncello Solo and Sinfonia composed for the Prussian queen. It was during this period da camera may have been written later on, during his period that the two received their first commissions from Emperor in Vienna from 1707 to 1711. This supposition is supported Joseph I. Reports refer to Antonio as the Kapellmeister of by the copies of these sonatas preserved in the Austrian King Charles III of Spain, Emperor Joseph’s younger National Library, as well as by the fact that a third cello brother and eventual successor. Giovanni brought him to sonata, the Sonata da Camera detta la Comodina, is extant Vienna in 1705, where Joseph I was to retroactively appoint in two copies that belonged to Count Rudolf Franz Erwein him Hofkomponist in 1711. Following Joseph’s death, the von Schönborn-Wiesentheid (1677–1754), whose career brothers were let go by the new emperor, Charles VI, developed contemporaneously with that of Antonio and who whereupon Antonio returned to Italy and went on to work in is strongly associated with Vienna. The count, as a well- Rome, Modena, Naples, and Milan. His career saw him regarded diplomat who served the Habsburg emperors up to compose a total of 11 works for the stage, of which only three 1733, and also in his capacities as a chamberlain and privy were for Vienna, and he also wrote six serenatas and four councilor at the Viennese Court between 1700 and 1710, oratorios. used his extensive travels to enlarge his music collection— and he doubtless also established personal contact with We still have 12 cello sonatas written by Antonio Maria various composers. So it is no wonder that at least 11 Bononcini during his youth, when the two brothers’ careers composers connected with Vienna are represented in his were beginning in Bologna and environs. Since this was collection. It was around 1700 that he had begun to compile precisely the time and place at which the very first virtuoso his music collection, which was eventually to include works pieces for cello were heard, it is quite probable that the two by around 200 composers of his era. An outstanding brothers had become acquainted with cellists from the position among these works, which consist largely of Bolognese circles of Domenico Gabrielli and Giuseppe instrumental music, is occupied by the enormous number of Maria Jacchini as well as with these two composers’ works compositions for the cello. The count not only composed, 17 18 but was also a competent cellist in his own right. And in the but it is certain that he spent the summer of 1708 at Charles’s years following the death of his wife and his brother (i.e., court. I suspect that this period must have seen him become from around 1724), he seems to have concentrated on the acquainted with a great number of outstanding musicians acquisition of chamber music works in which he may have who had moved there from Naples due to the higher pay— played the cello part himself. In time, he came to possess including the outstanding cellist Francesco Paolo Supriano. over 100 cello concertos and 80 cello sonatas! Schönborn- In 1708, Caldara probably also led the performance of an Wiesentheid may have already met the two Bononcinis in opera on the occasion of King Charles’s wedding to Rome and then reencountered them later on in Vienna. His Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. But even fondness for their music is documented by two letters that he so, Caldara failed to obtain an employment contract and wrote to his brother Friedrich Karl, the imperial vice hence returned to Italy. In 1709, he was appointed maestro chancellor in Vienna, in which he explicitly requested that di capella to Prince Francesco Maria Marescotti Ruspoli in Friedrich Karl send music by Bononcini—precisely which Rome, for whom he would compose four operas. pieces he meant is open to conjecture. When Charles left Barcelona in order to succeed his brother Antonio Caldara (1670–1736), another composer who Joseph I as Emperor Charles VI, Caldara set about played the cello, was born either in Venice or in Padua. He attempting to regain access to him. He did so, for example, probably studied in Venice under Giovanni Legrenzi, and when the new emperor visited Milan in November of 1711. beginning in 1688—in other words, at the young age of 18— And in early 1712, Caldara even traveled to Vienna. But as he he became a cellist and violinist at San Marco. It is once again failing to gain employment, he returned to Rome. interesting to note that he must have played there together In 1715, following the death of Emperor Charles’s with Giovanni Battista Vivaldi (1655–1736), father of Antonio Hofkapellmeister Marc’Antonio Ziani, Caldara made a Vivaldi, who had been appointed violinist at the basilica in second journey to Vienna, his hopes renewed. And this time, 1685 and was himself well known as a violin virtuoso. 1689 they were fulfilled: from April 1716 until his death—exactly 20 saw Caldara compose his first work for the stage, and he years—he was to serve as vice-Kapellmeister. Caldara spent the period between 1699 and 1707 working as maestro probably also served the imperial family as a music teacher. di capella at the court of Ferdinando Carlo Gonzaga in And he enjoyed a cordial relationship with Emperor Charles, Mantua, thereafter continuing on to Rome, where he who conducted several of his vice-Kapellmeister’s operas composed oratorios and cantatas. It was during this phase of himself. Caldara was obligated to compose works for all his career that he made his first contact with future emperor name days and birthdays of the emperor and his spouse. Charles VI and the court that Charles maintained in Altogether, he composed 87 operas and serenatas—46 of Barcelona from 1703 to 1711 as pretender to the Spanish them for Vienna—as well as 35 oratorios. Following throne. It is not known how long Caldara stayed in Spain, Caldara’s appointment, his music became fashionable in 19 20 many parts of the Habsburg Empire, and commissions began written by his contemporaries Vivaldi, Geminiani, Barrière arriving from cities including Salzburg and Prague. His and de Fesch. popularity and the competence he displayed at the Viennese court are borne witness by the fact that, as vice- As a composer, the Neapolitan Nicola Antonio Porpora Kapellmeister, he received a higher salary than the famed (1686–1768) was famous for the virtuosity of his Italian arias. first Kapellmeister Fux. This is probably also associated with He produced an extensive oeuvre of vocal repertoire the fact that it was usually Caldara, and not Fux, who was including over 50 operas, sacred works, and a multitude of charged with composing large operas. Caldara died in chamber cantatas and homage cantatas, alongside Vienna. outstanding instrumental music. His beginnings were in Naples and Venice, to where he returned following his The Venetian composer Caldara’s adeptness at combining unsuccessful initial attempt to procure a position at the Italian and German-Austrian elements, along with a great Viennese court in 1725. In Venice, Porpora was one of the richness of melody, spelled great success for his music in most sought-after voice teachers, with pupils including the Vienna. Due to his obligation to compose ever-new castrati Farinelli, Porporino and Caffarelli. During this oratorios paying homage to the emperor, he only got around period, Porpora also competed with Leonardo Vinci (1690– to composing for his own instrument during the penultimate 1730) for the status of Italy’s most popular operatic year of his life—and even then, he wrote these pieces for composer. Vinci had (1698–1782) on his others, not for himself. But his fondness for the cello is side; Metastasio had rapidly advanced to become the most reflected not least by the prominent parts for this instrument popular operatic poet, and for the most part he entrusted his in numerous solo arias from his vocal works. In the holdings coveted libretti to Vinci, whom he esteemed greatly as a of the Austrian National Library, there exist works including composer, for their initial musical settings. Porpora, on the a cello treatise by Caldara as well as two copies of the other hand, usually had access to the more famous singers, Sinfonia a Violoncello solo in D major. The composition of many of whom were his former students. In 1733, Porpora the 16 sonatas, to which the Sonata No. 4 in D minor went to London to head the Opera of the Nobility, which belongs, may also have had to do with the music lover Count entered into competition with Georg Friedrich Handel’s Rudolf Franz Erwein von Schönborn-Wiesentheid. They operatic undertakings at the King’s Theatre and the Covent were written in 1735, and in the count’s collection of cello Garden Theatre. The third rivaling party in this field was sonatas, they represent the largest contribution by any single none other than Giovanni Battista Bononcini, and the three composer. The extent to which they reflect Caldara’s own composers gave rise to several pasticcio works while in technical abilities or those of the collector is difficult to London. After four seasons, the battle for the London ascertain, of course, but in any case, they represent audiences’ favor had driven both Handel’s and Popora’s invaluable counterparts to the better-known cello sonatas theatrical enterprises to ruin. Following Caldara’s death, 21 22 Porpora attempted to gain an initial appointment at the unsuccessful in attaining his goal of becoming an honored Viennese court in 1737 with his oratorio Geodone. But this Hofkapellmeister in Vienna and thereafter returned to the outstanding music, rich in wonderful arias of a dramatic, place of his birth in 1760, died poor and lonely at the age of even operatic character, did not conform to the Viennese 81. court’s conservative tastes, and Porpora was once again denied the professional breakthrough for which he so Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741) was likewise unsuccessful in yearned. He went on to work in Dresden, after which he procuring an appointment in Vienna. He, too, is another finally moved to Vienna in 1752 to spend several years there representative of the interesting phenomenon of how life as a private singing teacher. In Vienna, he lived in the same events and misunderstandings of their art caused numerous building as Pietro Metastasio—in the Großes Michaelerhaus, outstanding musical personalities whom we so value today, which still stands directly across from the Imperial Hofburg. and without whose music we could not imagine our world, While there, Porpora was served as a valet and as a piano from enjoying success in Vienna. Vivaldi arrived in Vienna accompanist for his voice students by none other than the in 1740 in order to seek support from his patron, the approximately 20-year-old Joseph Haydn, to whom he gave Habsburg emperor Charles VI. But Charles died that instruction in return. October, and Vivaldi, once Europe’s most famous musician, was ignored by the city’s musical circles. On 28 July 1741, ten Since Porpora had not received any opera commissions in months after having arrived there, Vivaldi, too, passed away Vienna, 1754 saw him attempt to remind the public of his and was buried in a simple grave outside the city wall and prowess as a composer by publishing the accomplished 12 before the Kärntnertor on the Spitaller Gottsacker, a Sonate da chiesa for violin and bass. It remains location now occupied by the main building of the Vienna incomprehensible to me that nobody there took note of University of Technology on today’s Karlsplatz. these ingenious works. Perhaps Vienna was not home to any violin virtuosos at that time who would have been capable of In the baroque cello repertoire, the works by Antonio playing and disseminating this challenging music. The Vivaldi occupy a special position, with no other composer simpler Sonata for Violoncello and Basso Continuo in F having made a comparable contribution. Vivaldi wrote at major, on the other hand, was surely written earlier on, and least 27 cello concertos, one concerto for two cellos, and since the copy that has come down to us today is held by the three concertos for violin and cello, and he also assigned the British Library in London together with that of his Concerto cello solo parts in a total of 18 concertos for multiple for Violoncello and Strings in G Major, one can assume that instruments. Several of his opera arias, as well, feature the Porpora probably composed it either during his London cello as a solo instrument. In addition to Vivaldi’s nine cello period or earlier, while still in Naples. Metastasio reported sonatas, there is also a sonata for violin and cello, and a to Farinelli in a letter that Porpora, who had been Breitkopf catalog from 1766 indicates that there was even a 23 24 tenth sonata for cello (which has since been lost). The nine imperial throne in 1711, whereupon Porsile and many of the sonatas à violoncello solo have come down to us in a total of new emperor’s best musicians, including Supriano, likewise five different manuscripts as well as in a 1740 printed edition moved to the imperial residence. Today, Supriano is known by Le Clerc in Paris. And some of the manuscripts held by as the first of the outstanding Neapolitan school cello the library at the Conservatory of Naples are autographs. players. He was held in high regard at the courts of The library of Count von Schönborn-Wiesentheid, already Barcelona and Vienna, and with cello technique not yet very mentioned frequently here as one of the most important advanced in his era, Supriano’s playing was admired far and sources on baroque cello music thanks to the tireless wide. The relative lack of present-day knowledge about collecting efforts of the nobleman and amateur cellist Rudolf Supriano’s life is probably due to the fact that his fame was Franz Erwein, itself contains copies of no less than 17 works soon overshadowed by that of his pupil, Francesco Alborea, by Antonio Vivaldi including eight cello concertos, a who was 13 years his junior. The two were constant collegial concerto for violin, cello and strings, and two cello sonatas. competitors both in Naples and in Vienna. In contrast to But the fact that his library also holds a further copy of a cello Alborea, Supriano never succeeded in finding permanent sonata by Vivaldi has until now largely escaped general employment at the Viennese court, and he eventually notice. Since manuscript 532 came down to us without a title returned to Naples, where he was to serve in the „Real page and therefore with no indication of the composer, the Capella“ until 1730. The presence of these two cello Wiesentheid librarians had long mistakenly attributed this virtuosos in Naples is borne witness by the numerous work to the Abbot del Cinque, by whom the library owns concertante parts for the cello in opera and oratorio arias by manuscript copies of two further cello sonatas done in the and , who were active same hand. But it is, in fact, the Sonata for Violoncello and there at the time. Basso Continuo in A Minor, RV 44 recorded here and already known from the Neapolitan collection. Vivaldi’s An important early instructional work for the cello was authorship of the uncredited work in the Schönborn- Supriano’s collection Principij da imparare a suonare il Wiesentheid library is therefore confirmed beyond a doubt, violoncello e con 12 toccate a solo, which featured being documented by additional autograph material in explanations on technique. The twelve sonatas contained Naples. It was probably composed sometime around 1725. therein, which are also extant in a version including diminutions with virtuosic ornamentation and basso Francesco Paolo Supriano (Scipriani) (1678–1753), once continuo by the composer, allude both to Supriano’s own again a Naples native, went to work in 1708 as first cellist at virtuosity and to the diminutions and techniques of the Spanish royal court of future Emperor Charles VI in ornamentation common at the time as realized on the cello. Barcelona under the leadership of Giuseppe Porsile (1680– This authentic cello part, thus arranged, is the only one of its 1750). Charles returned to Vienna upon his ascension to the kind in the entire cello repertoire. In mentioning this, I 25 26 think it important to also point out that these challenging Gioacchino Sarao. And in Vienna he was to remain until his pieces—due to their use of certain notes in high registers death in 1739, working as a musician of Count Uhlenfeld and simultaneously combined with two open bass strings, as well as first cellist of the Vienna Hofkapelle with an annual salary as due to their evident employment of thumb position—must of 1,260 florins/gulden. have been written for a 4-stringed cello! This makes Supriano and his pupil Francesco Alborea the first cellists Alborea, thanks to his exceptional talent, is considered to who used thumb position and, what’s more, who are have been the very first cello virtuoso to truly succeed in documented to have not used a 5-stringed instrument. By establishing the cello as a solo instrument. According to way of comparison with the cello works in this treatise, a contemporary reports, those who heard him were left with an simpler but quite wonderful Sinfonia di Violoncello a Solo in unforgettable impression. He was also the first person to C major has also come down to us; this piece, which may also introduce the art of cello playing to more eastern parts of have been written for instructional use, was published with Europe, and his activities hastened the process by which the the composer credited as „Scipriani“. viola da gamba, still quite well represented in Europe’s orchestras at the time, was superseded by the cello for once Francesco Alborea (1691–1739), also known as and for all. A similar development can be observed in „Franciscello“ or „Francischello“ and likewise born in France, where the gamba could look back upon a rich Naples, is virtually unknown today compared with the fame tradition: according to the Belgian composer and music he achieved during his successful performing career. He biographer François-Joseph Fétis (1784–1871), the French studied in his hometown, where he received his first music cellist Martin Berteau (ca. 1709–1771), regarded as the lessons from the violinist and composer Gian Carlo Cailó at founder of the French school of cello playing, was at first an the Conservatorio Santa Maria di Loreto, and he went on to outstanding viola da gamba player. After hearing Alborea, become one of the best cellists of his era. Thanks to the however, he switched to the cello. Once returned to Paris interest of Alessandro Scarlatti, it was quite early on that following his studies with Alborea in Vienna, Berteau was Alborea became a member of that period’s most famous celebrated as a cello sensation when he performed for the orchestra, the Chapel Royal of the King of Naples, where he Concert Spirituel. Since a further French cellist, Jean- was to serve as first cellist until 1727. Word of his virtuosity Baptiste Barrière (1707–1747), was likewise a pupil of was quick to reach the imperial court in Vienna. According Alborea, one can ascertain that Alborea also played an to an account by Ludwig von Köchel (1800–1877), author of indirect role in establishing the cello’s popularity in France. the well-known Köchel Catalog, a request by Emperor Charles VI to Aloys Thomas Raimund Count Harrach (1687–1782) is said to have attended a (1669–1742), Viceroy of Naples, brought Alborea to Vienna concert in Rome in 1713 where Alborea played the obbligato that same year in order to accompany the lute virtuoso cello part in a cantata by Alessandro Scarlatti (1660–1725), 27 28 who accompanied him and the castrato Nicoló Grimaldi, A large oil painting by the Italian painter Niccolò Maria known as „Niccolini“, on the harpsichord. According to Rossi (1690–1758), entitled La festa dei Quattro Altari, Fétis’s notes, Geminiani proclaimed following the concert shows—according to the Italian historian and painter that „only an angel in human form could play so sweetly“. Bernardo de’ Dominici (1683–1759)—the greeting of Aloys The English music author Charles Burney (1726–1814) wrote Thomas Raimund Count Harrach, Viceroy of Naples, and a bit differently about the same event: that Franciscello had „nearly all of his ministers and musicians of the Chapel played so sensationally that „the company, being good Royal of Naples, including first maestro di cappella Catholics and living in a country where miraculous powers Francesco Mancini, Domenico Sarro, and Francesco Alborea have not yet ceased, were firmly persuaded it was not with his world-famous violoncello, who was called to Vienna Francischelli who had played the violoncello but an angel on account of his enchanting cello playing…“ that had descended and assumed his shape“. The flutist (1697–1773), as well, heard him in Naples in 1725 as part of a concert honoring the Prince of Lichtenstein at which the famous Farinelli sang; Quantz described Alborea as „extraordinary“ and „without compare“. The violinist Franz Benda (1709–1786) heard him in Vienna in 1730, took music lessons from him, and always spoke of him with the highest admiration and the greatest enthusiasm.

Alborea’s fame during his lifetime could only spread due to the lively impression left by his concerts and appearances, since to this day no other compositions by him are known that could have helped him to more lasting renown. But the German composer Ernst Ludwig Gerber (1746–1819), writing in his lexicon of composers, opined that Alborea may well have published anonymously for his instrument in Vienna. Today, Alborea’s Sonatas for Cello and Basso Continuo in D major and in G major are held by the Czech National Library in Prague. Alborea died in Vienna, his memory soon to fade into undeserved oblivion.

29 30 33 34 When composing new works, 17th and 18th-century diminutions, and variations in phrasing enhance music’s composers reckoned with both the improvisational and the liveliness and allow every affect presented by the passage or technical abilities of the musicians, as well as with their good movement at hand to be more easily discerned. taste, their musical experience and training, and their richly faceted, emotional renditions. After all, the success of any I am very happy that this recording—thanks to the work was dependent on the performers in a very crucial way! opportunity to collaborate with the Esterházy Private Composers often wrote with specific musicians or singers in Foundation and their friendly loan of an instrument—could mind, custom-tailoring their pieces and arias. In many cases, be realized at the Palace Chapel in Eisenstadt. Virtually no the composers also performed their own works, and it stands other place could be more authentic than that space for to reason that there was no need to notate every minor detail which this cello was most probably intended. And virtually in pieces for their own use. Only in those cases where their nowhere could the atmosphere when playing on this music served instructional purposes were baroque instrument be more magical than in the very spot where it composers far more thorough, since the point was to provide was heard at the beginning of its long life, nearly 300 years carefully devised examples for practical execution. ago. Otherwise, the notation used in their works was typically reduced to the essence in order to allow performers a great deal of latitude for their own interpretations.

Hence, that via which music becomes music—the words Michal Stahel between the lines, the notes between the notes—was left to the musicians, who in every performance were confronted anew with the written musical „data“ and could thus express and Period illustrations: animate such pieces a bit differently every time. It thus probably went without saying that the notation set forth by La festa dei Quattro Altari, 1745 the composer was a basic framework, and by no means the Oil on canvas, by Niccolò Maria Rossi (1690–1758) Graf Harrach’sche Familiensammlung, A-2471 Schloss Rohrau, ultimate audible result or a work’s only possible version. NÖ

I have attempted to develop the material supplied by the Francesco Alborea (1691–1739) original musical text in keeping with this idea, in order to Engraving by Johann Jakob Haid (1704–1767) after a painting by come as close as possible to an authentic rendition and a Martin de Meytens (1695–1770) performance practice typical of the 18th century. Austrian National Library, Vienna, Picture Archives and Graphics Ornamentation, the variation of repeats, variety in Department, Portrait Collection 33 34 37 38 The „Basettl“ violoncello by Antony Posch Kapellmeister of the princely music establishment. Even just and its history at the Esterházy court Werner’s 1-month preparatory period in Vienna, during which he was already on the payroll and which he used to procure a large collection of church music and purchase The history of courtly and aristocratic musical life in the numerous instruments for the organ loft, shows how the Pannonian region would be impossible to write without young prince intended to touch off an initial flowering of taking into account the doings of the Esterházy family. At Viennese musical culture—then at its zenith under Emperor their various residences, especially in Eisenstadt and at Charles VI and his Hofkapellmeister Johann Josef Fux (ca. Eszterháza, this important dynasty of Hungarian magnates 1660–1741)—in Eisenstadt, as well. spent centuries as patrons of a blossoming and magnificent musical life, the highpoint of which would be reached with Upon his appointment as Kapellmeister, Werner was also the tenure of Joseph Haydn during the second half of the 18th charged with procuring a cello for Paul II Anton in Vienna, century. which he was to bring along when he commenced his duties in Eisenstadt. This is documented by an invoice, dated 29 Prince Paul II Anton Esterházy (1711–1762) was appointed Nov. 1728 and still present in the archives at Forchtenstein successor to his prematurely deceased father Joseph (1688– Castle (as AM 0756), from court luthier Antony Posch. It is 1721) at the tender age of ten. The young prince went on to interesting to note that the instrument is described as a study in Vienna and in Leyden, and he soon exhibited an „Pasettl“; this term, which can be taken as a reference to the exceptionally intense interest in music and literature. Study body’s unusual size, allows the instrument to be identified tours to France, Belgium, and the Netherlands helped to today. For the archives also indicate the purchase of a further nurture his musical talent, as did the experiences that he cello in 1739 (Acta Varia F117 N2/ 33), at the very point in would have later on as ambassador to the Neapolitan royal time when the court music establishment’s records stopped court. For these reasons, and probably also due to the listing a professional cellist in its ranks (which was to change encouragement of his mother, Maria Octavia, Paul II Anton again in 1742); this may mean that a “personal instrument” became the first prince in the history of the Esterházy family was being procured for the Prince himself. to make it his goal to establish a rich culture of music- making at his court and have his own residences become During his years with the Esterhazys, Werner led their musical centers of their era. What’s more, he was himself a Hofkapelle to new levels of quality—particularly in terms of skilled and enthusiastic player of the violone and the cello. church music. And very soon after having assumed his post, he also composed a cello concerto. In 1728, Paul II Anton called the composer Gregor Josef Werner (1693–1766) to join him in Eisenstadt as In 1761, the prince appointed Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) as 37 38 his court’s vice-Kapellmeister. And Haydn, who was at first longer played, according to then-Kapellmeister Carl to be responsible for developing chamber music activities, Thomas. It did, however, remain in the Hofkapelle’s soon composed his own solo concerto for the cello, probably inventory, as indicated by the „Inventarium über alle in at the behest and commission of the prince. Eisenstadt befindlichen fürstlich Esterházyschen Musique Instrumente […]“ [Inventory of all Princely Esterházy In 1762, Paul II Anton passed away at the age of 51. It was Musical Instruments in Eisenstadt (…)] (AM 3840 and AM possibly at that point in time that the Posch cello passed into 3842). In 1858, we once again find traces of it in the copy of the inventory of the Esterházys’ Hofkapelle (to this day, the the above-quoted inventory by Carl Thomas that was instrument bears a historical seal stamped with the Esterházy prepared in connection with the transfer of Thomas’s duties coat of arms and a reference to this effect). In 1765, the to the new Kapellmeister, Karl Zaglitz. And during the years instrument was modernized with a new neck. The work was that followed, the Basettl—together with a few selected done by the workshop of Viennese violinmaker Johann musical instruments from the Esterhazys’ Hofkapelle, Joseph Stadlmann (1720–1781), and the invoice written up including the famous baryton of Nikolaus I. Esterházy „the for this job contains an exceptional detail—referring to the Magnificent“—was brought to Eszerháza, where it was stored repair of the „Poschische Bassettl”; in other words, to an and presented in a display case; this is indicated by a solitary instrument that had been built by Antony Posch: „An ein historical photo that has come down to us. Paßetl ein Neürn Hals gemacht, den Griff abgericht ein Griff bainl und Neur besait“ [Renewed the neck on a violoncello, Later on, the instrument was once again transferred to a new adapted the fingerboard, new nut and new strings]. place of storage: the 1936 inventory of the family’s palace in Eisenstadt lists it as Inv. No. 1471 with the simple If we cast a glance at the further purchase invoices description: „cello, without label, broken“. And it was there, concerning cellos for the Esterházys’ Hofkapelle, we learn of in Eisenstadt, that it survived the turmoil of the Second the acquisition of two further instruments in 1783 (AM 1164 World War and the postwar period. In 2007, the cello was and 1166) and of at least four additional cellos that arrived rediscovered in a small servant’s chamber during a general during the period between 1799 and 1808. This would inventory of the collection holdings. Eisenstadt-based cellist suggest that our Basettl may have fallen into disuse at some Hannes Gradwohl, who was brought in to consult, was the point during that period due to its „baroque“ playing first person to recognize the significance of this instrument, characteristics. which was subsequently entrusted to violinmaker Gerlinde Reutterer on 19 June 2007 for repairs. After the court music establishment was largely dissolved in 1813 (it ceased to exist entirely in 1866), this cello—along Since 2009, the young Slovak cellist Michal Stahel has been with a large number of other string instruments—was no performing successfully on this unique instrument. Built 39 40 around 1720 at the workshop of Antony Posch, it stands out for the historical proportions of its setup, representing the prevalent conventions of construction and playing up to around the middle of the 18th century. Just like its enchanting golden-yellow varnish, the instrument’s fittings are also— with few exceptions—originals from the same period. Due to its provenience and its exceptionally original condition, the „Esterházsche Basettl“ can be viewed as a one-of-a-kind instrument—and for the last few years, it has once more been delighting numerous music lovers with its unmistakable sound thanks to the virtuosic playing of Michal Stahel.

Dr. Florian T. Bayer Head of Collections, Esterházy Privatstiftung

41 42 45 46 Michal Stahel was born into a musical family in Bratislava. performance“. In recent years Stahel has been mostly He started playing the cello at the age of six. After involved in performing music of the 17th and 18th century. His graduating from Bratislava Conservatory, he continued to knowledge in this field has been positively influenced by study the cello at the Royal College in London, music several master classes, workshops and regular lessons with universities in Vienna, Mannheim and Conservatoire the famous baroque violinist and former leader of Musica Supérieur CNR in Paris. Antiqua, Reinhard Goebel, gambist Lorenz Duftschmidt, 18th century clarinet player Lorenzo Coppola, members of He won the first prize at competition of Slovak the Freiburger Barockorchester ensemble and baroque cello conservatories in 1997, a year later becoming a finalist of player and musicologist Marc Vanscheeuwijck. international competition Eurovision Grand Prix in Vienna, and winning international competition Talent of the Year in Stahel closely cooperates with personalities of ancient Prague in 1999. In 2000 he became a finalist of the TIJI music, such as Steven Stubbs, Skip Sempé, Anton, Steck, Unesco competition in Lisbon and received the prize of Simon Standage, Amandine Bayer, Leila Schayegh, Ricardo music critics at the Central European Music Festival of Minasi, Enrico Onofri, Paul McCreesh, Martin Haselböck, Concert Art in Žilina. Later, he was several times awarded Václav Luks, Marek Štryncl, Miloš Valent and Peter Zajíček. scholarships of Solti Foundation, scholarship of French Government and Academia Montis Regalis. He regularly performs with ensembles Freiburger Barockorchester, Wiener Akademie, Collegium 1704, Das His solo career includes performances with the Vienna Neue Orchester, Capriccio Stravagante, Academia Montis Radio Symphony Orchestra, Portuguese Symphony Regalis, Collegium Marianum Prague, Solamente Naturali Orchestra, Prague Chamber Philharmonic, Slovak and Musica Aeterna. Philharmonic Orchestra, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Košice Philharmonic Orchestra, Žilina Chamber Orchestra Stahel plays a restored valuable baroque violoncello made by and Bohdan Warchal Chamber Orchestra. He has Anthony Posch in Vienna in 1728, which has been kindly lent collaborated with conductors such as Andrew Parrott, to him by Esterházy Foundation Eisenstadt. Dennis Russel Davies, James Judd, Jiří Bělohlávek, Oliver Dohnányi and Mario Košík.

Since 2006 he has been regularly performing with Slovak ensembles of ancient music Solamente Naturali and Musica Aeterna, which completely changed his artistic and musical direction towards the so-called „historically informed 45 46

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